A recent decision of the High Court in relation to eircom’s “three strikes” policy is being appealed to the Supreme Court.
In December 2011, the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) issued an enforcement notice directing eircom to cease operating its “three strikes” policy, which is aimed at preventing the illegal downloading of music. In June 2012, representatives of the music industry secured a High Court order quashing this notice (see our previous article here).
The DPC is appealing the judgment of the High Court on 31 grounds. In addition, the DPC is asking the Supreme Court to refer certain questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Amongst these is the question of whether the eircom policy is compatible with European law “having regard to the balance it strikes (or purports to strike) between the protection of the intellectual property rights enjoyed by the and the fundamental rights of customers to protection of their personal information and the freedom to impart and receive information”.
We look forward to the outcome of the latest instalment of this long running saga.
Contributed by David Cullen.
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